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Expert Q&A

	By Leanne Ely Leanne Ely, C.N.C., Certified Nutrition Consultant

Do you have a recipe for a fun, but healthy, cake for my daughter's first birthday?

Do I ever! This recipe is my own, tried and true carrot cake from my book Healthy Foods. It takes a little effort, but it is well worth it!

For the cream cheese frosting, don't use honey, but use sucanat instead. Sucanat is an evaporated sugar cane juice that is much easier on little body than regular sugar.

Without further adieu, here is the recipe and the frosting recipe, too:

Carrot Cake
Serves 12

1/4 cup safflower oil
1 cup organic sucanat (health food store)
2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour (health food store)
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 eggs
4 cups carrots, grated
1 cup pecans, chopped (OMIT with young children, or chop FINE)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a 9x12-inch pan by greasing well.

In a large bowl, mix oil and sucanat together; add eggs one at a time until mixed well. Set aside.

In another bowl, mix all dry ingredients well.

Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients. When mixed, add carrots, vanilla extract and pecans. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 1 hour. Test for doneness. If its still goopy in the middle, bake another 10 minutes.

This is one of those leave-it-in-the-pan cakes. Top with cream cheese frosting if you really want to knock yourself out.

Cream Cheese Frosting

6 ounces low-fat cream cheese
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3 tablespoons honey (use HALF this amount of sucanat)
1 tablespoon vanilla

In a small bowl, mix all ingredients together. Refrigerate till ready to use.

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